LegalTech Base becoming eDiscovery Base - What do you think?

by JulieLaboe

I envision a community site where litigation support professionals can go to search for a specific type of eDiscovery related service or technology within a given radius and then find out what others’ experiences have been with those providers. In addition, community members can build profiles for themselves and their company. This utopia stemmed from my frustration in locating a reputable and knowledgeable company to provide eDiscovery technology and/or services.  This frustration has been fueled, in part, by an overabundance of self-proclaimed “experts” who lack the knowledge, skill and expertise needed in this highly technical area.  The ListSupportServs are constantly inundated with requests for skilled providers of technologies and services in specific geographic localities.  Also many businesses (and legal professionals) fail to understand or appreciate the importance of preserving electronic data before becoming embroiled in litigation.  Thus, there is a tremendous need for businesses that provide technology and services in the areas of Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and Business Intelligence (BI) – now commonly referred to as “Litigation Readiness” in addition to those companies who provide solutions once involved in litigation. 

To illustrate how vast the industry is, consider that approximately 80% of all information in business is living electronically in emails, text, voice and video.  According to a United States Postal Service (“USPS”) study done a few years ago, there is more email sent in one day than the USPS handles in an entire year.  It is also estimated that the volume of documents will continue to grow by about 35% every year.  It is becoming more and more evident that “electronic discovery” affects almost every type of litigation.  As an example, a law firm client of mine became involved in a breach of contract case.  Their client had a total of three employees.  After obtaining the data from their client, the law firm ended up with a terabyte of data.  A terabyte of data is roughly 438,000,000 documents or 146,000 boxes of paper.  Using only a couple of components of Enterprise Searching technology made it possible to reduce the terabyte of data (438 million documents) to 71,000 relevant documents.

Companies who have “learned the hard way” about Litigation Readiness agree that being proactive (before the hint of litigation) is the most important phase of “eDiscovery”. The front end costs ultimately are much cheaper than having to reconstruct and track down electronic data related to a legal action. And although Litigation Readiness technology (DLP and BI) can often be hard to sell to the powers that be, there’s no dispute that it’s an easy sell after becoming mired in data retrieval in response to discovery requests.  Many companies don’t have the budget to spend a lot of money on Litigation Readiness and may not know where to start.  As technology grows in sophistication, so will the technology required to maintain and locate the needed data. 

 To date, there has not been a single source for the legal industry that provides the necessary information about Litigation Readiness technologies.  Litigation Readiness is often touched upon in articles but those articles fail to address the important protocols/technology that needs to be in place long before the threat of litigation is raised.  Just as important they fail to educate people on where to find such technology.  Since experts agree that “the best defense is a good offense” and because courts are not swayed by claims of ignorance (e.g. the “Pollyanna defense”), there’s a definite need for a single source that provides information and resources for Litigation Readiness as well as the litigation and trial phases of eDiscovery.

eDB will provide the solution to the need in five ways:

1. A single source where all facets related to eDiscovery come together (Litigation Readiness, Litigation, & Trial).
2. Most comprehensive directory of eDiscovery technology & services.
3. Community members discussing their needs, frustrations, and experiences.
4. Community driven surveys.
5. Bloggers Corner – group of experts in their respective areas providing educational information.

•       IT manager within a corporation – Litigation Readiness – Steps to Follow & Advice

•       Computer Forensics Expert

•       Enterprise Search Expert

•       Message Archiving Expert

•       Enterprise Management  Expert

•       Attorney’s prospective

•       Paralegal’s prospective

•       Litigation Support Specialist’s prospective

•       eDiscovery Consultant

•       Trial Consultant

•       Marketing expert in “Marketing in Today’s Industry”

The success of this type of site hinges on community participation. PLEASE LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.